The guards had taken up a fair amount of space in the carriage, but the duke would have ordered them to stuff as much carisle as possible inside the contraption. We’d still get enough of a haul to make a difference in the lives of those who required it most.
While keeping my focus on maintaining the fog, wind, hail, and snow going on the hillsides, I stopped paying attention tothe guards still on the road. Now that the lightning had stopped pushing them back, they’d reemerged and were coming at us once more.
Arrows flew, and I turned in time to use a gust of wind to stop the projectiles from striking me and my loved ones. Some of the arrows still traveled through the storm, and while they didn’t hit anyone, they peppered the ground, and one thudded into the chest that Mr. Fletcher carried.
I twisted my hand once more to keep the tornado turning before I flung it at the guards. Lightning flared at the tips of my fingers before lashing out in a wave that stayed connected to me while it sizzled across the space separating us.
When the slender, finger-like tentacles of lightning crashed into the first five guards, it flung them into some of the others. Screams resonated from them as I turned my other hand toward the guards at the other end of the road.
I was keeping them at bay, but I could feel the storms on the hillsides weakening as my attention remained diverted from them. It was only a matter of time before those guards broke through everything.
As I thought it, the mounted soldiers spurred their horses onward. They knew they far outnumbered us, and I was losing the battle.
Their fear of the duke outweighed their fear of me. Either that, or the reward for capturing me and Ryker was tempting enough to risk death.
“Ryker!” I screamed over the wailing wind.
My growing terror propelled my abilities higher and intensified my lightning. The power sought to take me over and lift me off the ground, but I was a big enough target without levitating.
I was sure the duke had commanded them to take me alive, and just as sure they could kill me by accident. Some of them might do it on purpose.
I terrified them, and they probably hadn’t realized yet that I could control all five weathers, at least not while this battle raged on, but it wouldn’t stay a secret for long. I’d always kept my lightning and fog hidden, but the fog blanketed the hills so thickly that it had swallowed all those still trapped within its silvery radiance.
A blizzard raged, hail pelted all those coming toward us, and tornadoes of lightning churned up the land. To make sure I truly hammered the point home, I lifted my hands and circled them around me as I drew moisture from the air and unleashed a torrent of rain on the nearest guards.
Now, they would know for sure what I could do, and I hoped itpetrifiedthem. I was tired of hiding and tired of playing games; I refused to kowtow to these bastards anymore.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ellery
Ten feet away from me,in front of the horseless carriage, a portal shimmered to life. I didn’t know where Luna had come from, but she appeared around the corner of the vehicle with a chest in hand. I suspected she’d managed to get inside the contraption when the guards exited.
Luna, Scarlet, Callan, and Mr. Fletcher, all carrying chests, ran toward the portal. Ryker set his chest down and, lifting his hands, drew more electricity from the sky.
Lightning pelted the dirt in front of the closest rider. Bending, Ryker smashed his hand off the ground, and a wave of thunder rolled across the earth.
Many of the horses screamed as they danced away from the rippling earth before spinning and bolting. Unable to hold on, some of the riders fell while others managed to calm their mounts, and some clung to their fleeing steeds.
The horses were battle-hardened animals, but it was impossible to prepare them for the ground undulating fromthunderquakes. The out-of-control beasts would keep them occupied for a little while.
Tucker scrambled onto the top of the carriage and, with his dagger in hand, sliced through the straps securing the chests to the roof. He started kicking the chests off as Luna and Callan went through the portal.
Stopping outside of it, Mr. Fletcher threw his chest through the opening before turning to lift one that Tucker had kicked from the conveyance. Scarlet stopped beside her father and threw her chest through the portal before helping her father with the others as Tucker jumped off the top.
The twang of bowstrings alerted me that the archers had released more arrows. The riders were emerging from the fog, many of them firing arrows from their mounts.
The horses’ movements would most likely throw off their aim… which meant these incompetents would probably be more likely to hit someone.
“Arrows!” I shouted.
Mr. Fletcher grabbed Scarlet and pushed her down before climbing on top of her. Tucker sprinted toward them and, with a mighty leap, crashed onto their backs. Mr. Fletcher’s legs kicked out, and poor Scarlet was probably barely breathing at the bottom, but none of the arrows would find her.
Throwing up my hands, I created a funnel of wind above me that spread out to include my friends…
No, they’re my family.
Scarlet and her father had always been like family, but now so were Tucker, Callan, and even Luna, who could be a little challenging to deal with sometimes. That’s what they’d all become to me; I’d protect them, I’d die for them, and I was most certainly willing to kill for them.
